


belonging

by MVD



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Ending, Canon Divergence - Star Wars Expanded Universe, F/M, IF YOU'RE UNHAPPY WITH TROS, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It, TAKE THIS FIC FOR A RIDE, another fix it fic, basically how i made sense of the ending, choose ur own destiny, god just give me luke and ben making up please, she's still a palpatine (shiver) but i made it better i hope, someone needs to force-marry these kids pronto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:15:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23779747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MVD/pseuds/MVD
Summary: But it was Luke, Han and Leia who showed her the complexities of the Dark and Light sides of the Force. It is not polar nor ubiquitous. Their strength gave her the hope to unequivocally fight to end Ben’s conflict, and the knowledge that one can still love that which was lost.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	belonging

**Author's Note:**

> I have not written fics for several years so thanks for reading if you did! ~

_The belonging you seek is not behind you, it is ahead._

—

Warm breath filled her lungs. 

The bruises from battle seemed to have vanished, and the whispers of the ancestral Jedi dissipated to a dense quiet. The iniquitous atmosphere surrounding the wreckage of the Sith lair seemed to cease all existence; Rey felt lightweight, simple. She lifted her hand to touch the warmth encasing her torso and was met with familiarity. As her fingers wrapped around his hand so as to greet it, her eyes regained their focus.

It was not happiness or joy that permeated the eyes that met hers. There was a profound sadness, imbued with relief and adolescent vulnerability. Rey sat up promptly, searching his eyes and realizing the way he held her entirely, with strong arms and war-torn clothes. He embraced her with such care, as if she might break should he hold her stronger. Rey hardly had a moment to try and understand the emotions in Ben’s expression, or to share the joy she was experiencing, for as quickly as the light had filled her just seconds ago, the light in Ben’s eyes left and he fell back onto the moonless floor. 

She had not let go of him, and her hand was firmly placed on his shoulder as his corpse pulled her down with him. What had he done? The flourishing vitality within her could not comprehend the lack of such in his. Her chest suddenly seemed to weigh very heavy, and dread blossomed from her heart, spreading to the very tips of her fingers and toes. Their dyad, as Palpatine had called it, was an unbreakable force-bond of twin souls; the runes in the Jedi texts she retrieved from Luke explained as much. How could something like this have happened? As he grew cold, she felt a part of her ripping away, turning to ice.

Ben had given his life Force to revive her. She could not place her feeling at this realization: she was taken by gratefulness, sorrow and confusion. Was this sacrifice the redemption of his sins, his penance to the Light? No matter how she justified it, Rey could not find peace in his death.

Her last memory before darkness took her was the defeat of her grandfather, and the voices of the Jedi filling her mind, ringing in her ears until she lost her life. Ben had been thrown into the misty pit behind them and survived; he must’ve come to her aid, despite not knowing whether or not their enemy had been defeated. 

Confusion and sorrow painted her delicate features, twisting into painful heartbreak. The hope of his turn to the Light had come true, the defeat of the last Sith, the victory of the Resistance - and it all came to this. This is not the ending she wanted for Ben Solo. This is not what she wanted for Han and Leia’s son. This is not what she wanted for herself; Rey remembered their connection sparking like wildfire when Ben came to her rescue at the commencement of the final fight. She had entered Exegol with no intention of seeking aid; she went in solitude to defeat the legacy that bound her to a fate she did not identify with. She was a nobody, and had finally found the pride in that. 

Except, Ben arrived, and she realized that it was always meant to be that way. When she saw Ben’s eyes, there was no doubt in her mind they were fated to defeat the darkness that kept them cuffed, together. Someone had come for her in her darkest moment, and he had kept to his word: she was never alone. Rey and Ben were coordinated parallels, magnets, convex and concave stones carved from the same mountain. Their bond was as integral as DNA. Unconditional understanding tethered their shared hope and love, coming to fruition in Ben’s fight and sacrifice.

She had seen his future, solid and clear, that he would turn to the Light. Yet, the end of Ben Solo’s life did not manifest in her visions. Rey allowed a tear to shed and she closed her eyes, resting her head on his breathless chest, only for a moment, to grieve. 

A new, unexpected energy flowed through the throne room. It seemed to creep up on her, filtering through the air like a wisp. The warm spirit then seemed to hug her, and as she held Ben, Rey allowed herself to fall into it. A sob escaped her lips, and suddenly, she realized for certainty the familiarity of this energy: Leia.

Leia’s Force held her in a mother’s hug, and then promptly left her. As Rey sat up, bewildered, she felt the energy surround Ben’s body. It appeared as if he glowed for a moment. Rey immediately knew what this meant, and joining the strength of Leia’s Force, she placed a hand on his chest and transferred a part of her own life Force back to him. As quickly as it came, Leia’s spirit was gone entirely and the place became cold and dark once again. 

But something new replaced it. Rey felt heat return to Ben’s skin and slowly, gently, he opened his eyes as if wakening from a sleep. The combined Forces of his mother and Rey returned life to him; Rey knew she could not have done it wholly on her own. Shocked, stirred and filled with sudden adrenaline, she pulled his body upright to meet her gaze.

“Ben?”

He was pale and tired, but his eyes were filling with life again. Ben’s eyes looked around him, as if searching for someone who was once there. He looked at her now with vitality, and his eyes eased to a soft gaze that utterly reminded her of his mother.

“You’re alive,” Rey breathed with relief. She lifted a hand to touch his cheek gently; she couldn’t believe it was real. Her hand tangled apprehensively with the black curls behind his ear, and he gave her a small smile, the first smile she had ever seen strewn across his face. His eyes did not leave hers - they did not look at her with hunger, pain, or even hope; they showed only a long-last, tender love. 

Rey smiled widely back. The energy between them tightened, pouring over the brim with life. Her heart warmed and a childlike sense of joy returned to her. Ben did not let go of her or break his gaze for a second, he himself utterly amazed at the simplicity of all this. There was no conflict in the Light, there was no longing, there was only peace and the answer to what he had been searching for his whole life. 

Since the beginning of his training and the undertaking of his apprenticeship, his conflict had been the agent dividing him from understanding by his family, his peers, and the First Order. The voices in his head corrupted his every move, every shift towards an attempt at free will. A memory of the first time he and Rey touched hands by the light of a fire, through the connection of their bond, only drew his conflict to a peak. He knew that now. Rey had always listened, and even verbalized her own struggle with Darkness to him. This is the belonging he needed and it was always in her. Whether or not Snoke, or Palpatine, had connected their minds, their dyad was theirs alone. He only wished he had realized it sooner and surrendered himself to the Light. Yet, he could not make himself feel regret in this moment - he could only see clarity.

Rey’s gaze flickered downwards momentarily, and with one hand still grazing his cheek, she reached towards Ben and kissed him. 

It was effortless and honest. His hold on her waist was unyielding, and her touch firmed as she brushed the line of his cheekbone. Her heart felt as if it could implode, yet was simultaneously overcome by a calmness.

When they pulled away, Ben finally let a true grin loose and Rey soaked in its beauty. A reveal of a dimple on either side of his smile made her heart skip; he was radiating with pure joy. Her thumb touched the bottom of his smile, just to make sure it was really there, and she looked in his eyes. At long last, she saw Ben and only Ben, and could feel reassurance shared through their dyad that they were safe and the war was over.

Her thumb mindlessly grazed his jawline. “I saw your mother,” she said, with Ben’s smile slowly going solemn. “She came to you. I couldn’t have saved you without her. Leia gave you —“

“I know,” Ben replied, not angrily or sadly, rather with understanding and peace. “I saw her too. She…spoke to me.”

The full comprehension of Leia’s passing into the Force, the World Between Worlds, laid upon them. A sombre moment passed.

Rey sat up straighter, not losing her grip on him, fearing he would slip away at any moment again. “Come back to the base with me. You will be welcome with open arms, the Resistance will see what you’ve sacrificed —“

“Can you ever forgive me, Rey?”

He spoke matter-of-factly. Rey stopped, and furrowed her brow for a moment. Forgive him - for what he has done? For the heinous war crimes he has committed, the cruel acts of manipulation on beings, both innocent and not? The knowledge of these facts has never left her mind, and it will not leave the memories of others in the Resistance willingly. 

But it was Luke, Han and Leia who showed her the complexities of the Dark and Light sides of the Force. It is not polar nor ubiquitous. Their strength gave her the hope to unequivocally fight to end Ben’s conflict, and the knowledge that one can still love that which was lost. Han and Leia never stopped their endeavours to bring him back and turn him to the Light. Luke refused to put Kylo Ren to his grave twice. Yet, their mistake was not allowing Ben to choose for himself; he was forced into the Light with no alternative, and corrupted into the Dark when he thought himself rejected with no other path. He chose now, willingly, to return to the Light, and their heightened abilities together showed Rey that it accepted him, wholeheartedly. 

He tried to kill her as many times as she him, and she was the only one who succeeded. It dawned on her then that the piece of her life Force she gave to him on the wreckage of the Death Star he had given back to her, and then some. 

She tightened her hold on him and looked at Ben’s new, kind eyes and spoke with intent. “I have never doubted the Light in you for a moment. Fighting beside you is an honour, and has never been a burden.” She paused for a moment, before saying, without any holds or regards, “I see now, and thinking back I suppose I have for a while, that this doesn’t end with just me. You are meant to be here, Ben, and that certainty cannot cast doubt on what I know to be true.”

“And what is the truth?” Ben did not speak with a longing for reassurance, and Rey knew this. He, as always, had only wanted to know what was going on inside her head. 

“That I do not want to leave this place without you.”

That smile again. Rey could not hold back her own. He held her in a tight embrace before they both stood up. The ease with which they maneuvered themselves, after having both passed and been rebirthed through the Force, should have surprised them. But, Ben and Rey were clear-minded, preoccupied with a content and peace that has not graced them for their entire lives. She looked up at him, now towering over her, and smiled, which he again mirrored. The two sauntered from their gravesite unscathed. If they had only looked behind them, they would have seen the azure glow of a myriad of past Jedi, headed by Leia and Luke, beaming with pride at the Skywalker and Palpatine that fell in love and saved the Galaxy.

—

A thick layer of ash dusted Luke’s X-Wing. Ben’s ship, not far off, was barely visible in the rain of smoke falling from the sky. Rey looked up and, almost like a dream, the atmosphere sparkled with fire and bright lights as Palpatine’s destroyers disintegrated into pieces, sure to be drifted off into the crevices of the farthest reaches of the Galaxy. 

“Will you come with me?” Rey asked Ben again as they approached Luke’s ship. 

Ben looked around for a moment and met her eyes. “I have somewhere I need to go first.” 

Incredulous, Rey asked, half-laughing, “Where do you need to be at a time like this?” 

Ben reached for Luke’s lightsaber on his hilt, taking it in his hand. “Atonement…for my own peace of mind.” He gently took her wrist and placed the lightsaber in her hand. “I won’t be in need of this.”

Rey donned a confused expression. “Atonement? You saved me, you saved the galaxy! There is nothing to be afraid of.”

A dimple dotted his grin. “Don’t you trust me?”

She blinked. Searching his eyes again, she truly could only see Ben. Despite the raze of the Sith and the destruction surrounding them, he never shone brighter. 

“Where can I find you?”

Ben looked off into the distance before meeting her gaze again. He will never get tired of looking at her. “Where it all began. I’ll send you the coordinates.” 

He held her arm with tenderness, and brushed a lock of stray hair from her head with his other hand before meaningfully stepping back and walking towards his ship. Rey stepped around the X-Wing and watched him tread away, becoming a husk in the shadow of the rain of ash. The fear of losing him again filled her to the brim - but she fought fear, and remembered hope as the force that drove them together, protected her friends and defeated the Sith. She climbed into the X-Wing and set off for Ajan Kloss.

—

She hadn’t thought at all of how to tell the surviving Resistance fighters about the renaissance of Ben Solo. She could see the rejoicing before she landed, and the moment she stepped foot on the jungle floor, a well-aquatinted sound of disjointed beeping rose through the cheers. BB-8 rolled up to her with fervent speed, almost jumping from the ground with excitement. Rey knelt down and greeted the droid. 

“BB-8! Look at you. It’s so good to see you again.” 

Her eyes looked over the crowd as BB-8 rambled on, finally meeting eyes with Finn and Poe. Almost instantly, tears began to sting and she rushed over to greet them, brushing past BB-8 and the celebrating rebels that took notice and patted her back in applause. Rey threw her arms around Finn’s neck and felt Poe encase them both. They held each other like that for some time, emotions swelling and relief pouring out, mirroring the revelry and grief permeating through the assembly.

Rey pulled away and met the smiles of her friends. At the same time, Rey, and Finn and Poe, exclaimed:

“We have so much to tell you!”  
“I have so much to tell you!”

Laughter followed, and the three rebels sauntered to a ship enclosure and sat at a makeshift table - a barrel with four wooden stools. 

Finn took Rey’s hand across the table, and she was reminded of their first meeting where she could not stand to have him hold her hand. She squeezed in return.“You did it, Rey.”

“We did it,” she responded, smiling widely at them both.

Poe turned to her gaze. “This may not be the best time for debriefs, but how did you —“

Rey grinned almost bashfully, the whole ordeal appearing dramatic and minuscule to the triumphs of the day. Sparing drawling details, she thought to tell the most important parts.

“Ben’s ship had the wayfinder to Exegol integrated to its navigation system —“

“You mean Kylo Ren,” Poe interrupted, and it was not a question. 

She shook her head so as to wave him off - she’s getting to that part. “I took the wayfinder from his ship, flew to Exegol and found the source of it all: Palpatine and a congregation of his followers. Sith technology had kept his body and spirit alive in secret this whole time. I —” She paused, pondering the sensible way to explain the events that happened in the throne room. The bond between her and Ben catalyzed the defeat and, truly, there could be no way to explain their dyad, the throng of Jedi voices and the spirit of Leia that did justice to the truth of the experience.

“You don’t have to tell us everything now,” said Finn, to Rey’s relief. 

“I will tell you everything, but you have to know this. Ben came to my aid. He has turned to the Light. He saved my life and fought by my side to finish Palpatine. I don’t know if I could have done it without him.”

She watched as her friend’s faces became more contorted with confusion as her sentence carried on. 

“What do you mean, he ‘turned’?” Poe asked reluctantly. 

Rey leaned forward. “He killed Kylo Ren to become Ben Solo again. After we fought on the Death Star, we both felt Leia’s passing and I think it sparked the change in him. He left Kef Bir to find me and fight with me against Palpatine. He saved my life and it almost killed him.”

Finn and Poe exchanged a look. Rey’s fear that their acceptance of Ben was slim to none may come to pass, but she was determined to convince them of his turn and absolve. 

“Whatever Ren has done now, I don’t know if that will atone for his crimes. What he’s done to all of us, to innocent lives -“

“And even if you can convince us of his change,” Finn interjected. “I’m not sure you can convince them.” He gestured to the crowd some yards away from them. 

Rey looked out on them, and she could not disagree. She believed herself Ben’s redemption was symbolic of where his heart always laid, but many of her allies may never share the same view. 

Rey took a breath and looked to Finn and Poe again. “I know the change in him is enduring and I know he will never turn to darkness again. Not fully, anyways,” and she saw the confused looks upon her friends’ faces, and, furrowing her brow, said, “It’s complicated.” To try and explain her new understanding, of how she pieced together Luke’s teachings about the failures of the Jedi and the pain of Ben Solo, and learned that the balance she felt in between the grass and the ocean and the life and the death on Ach-To - that balance lives within everyone. Bringing balance to the Force not only meant her and Ben, agents of the Light and the Dark, coming together to defeat a greater evil, but finding balance in oneself and learning where the lines blur, and ultimately, that being an agent of choice revealed where one truly aligns. 

Instead of explaining this, she settled for saying, “I can’t expect the Rebellion to accept a turn of heart in who they thought their enemy was. But I know they loved Leia.”

Poe hung his head at the name. Despite the celebration, the grieving of their General was a wound still in need of healing. 

“Leia said herself her son was gone. She had given up all hope to change him,” said Finn.

“But you’re wrong,” said Rey, with rising passion and eagerness to show them the solidity of Ben’s turn to the Light, and the importance of protecting his life. “It was her last wish to give Ben her life after he died saving me.” 

The ex-stormtrooper and spice dealer had reached a new level of disbelief.

Rey took their silence to continue. “Leia said herself that we are the spark that lights the hope to defeat the dark. She gave her life to Ben - I saw her there and he revived right before me. Why would she do that if not to protect the legacy that we fought for?”

“Ren’s legacy is not going to be enough to pardon him,” Poe said matter-of-factly.

Rey shook her head. “It’s not because he’s a Skywalker, it’s because he has the will and power to protect the Light and protect everything we’ve fought for.”

The two men exchanged another glance. Finn reached forward and touched Rey’s arm once more. “What matters is that, if it’s as you say, he saved you, and you’re here and alive. The semantics can be saved for later.”

Slightly frustrated but instilled with a shred of hope that the two Commanders of the Resistance will absolve Ben of his crimes as Kylo Ren, she laid the issue to rest, for now.

Poe reached into the pocket of his X-Wing uniform, pulling out a familiar set of chained golden die. “These were…in Leia’s hands when she passed,” he said slowly, reverently. “Maz found them on the floor beside her bed.” He placed the die gently in Rey’s palm, closing her hand with his own and holding hers for a moment.

Rey, with a small tremble, opened her hand, seeing her faint reflection in Han’s token. She met eyes with Poe, who smiled earnestly.

Poe stood up. “I don’t doubt she would have wanted her student to have something of her master. Now, let’s join the rest. Today is a celebration for life. Come on, scavenger.” He held out his hand.

Rey smiled, nodded, and placed the die in her belt pocket. She took his hand and stood, following him out of the threshold. 

“Rey, one second,” said Finn, lingering behind. Poe continued forward and Rey treaded back, looking into her best friend’s eyes. 

“The thing I wanted to tell you before we left for Pasaana.”

Rey looked at him expectedly, nodding for him to continue.

He paused, searching for words. “The way you knew you could channel the Force, how it came about…we should talk about that because I think —“

Rey placed a hand on his arm. “I’ve felt it in you for some time, and I can feel it growing stronger in you.”

“You have?”

She smiled. “Looks like you’ll need a teacher. How do you feel about calling me ‘master’?”

Finn rolled his eyes. “How do you feel about calling me Commander, master?”

Rey shook her head, laughing. “These will be fun to try out.”

The two followed Poe out to the celebrations for a night of revelry and reverence. The Final Order had been defeated, and the Resistance was over. They were free beings. 

— 

Ben remembered seeing Ahch-To in Rey’s mind during their first meeting, the place she constantly dreamt of. Temple Island was as green and the ocean as blue in real life as in her memories. With lowering elevation he circled the island, and with a small chuckle, saw the skeleton of his TIE-Fighter on the side of a cliff, imagining Rey destroying it in a rage. 

When he landed his ship and stepped out onto the grass, the powerful winds of fresh ocean air overwhelmed him. Despite having never visited this planet, he had seen the place in visions during his conflicts with the Light. Whether it was the powerful Force the island cradled or the pull of Skywalker, he did not know. He knew what he wanted but did not fully know if he had the strength or acceptance to embark on this new chapter as Ben Solo, a Jedi of the Light side of the Force. He did not know if it would accept him after he shut himself off, especially after the dark deeds he had done through the Dark Side’s seduction. Ben knew he needed to see the place of the first Jedi temple, and wanted to test if the Force would accept him as its wielder once again. 

The path was laid out in his mind. He hiked through the paved village and up the peak of the mountain, where he came into a hollowing. It was as dark as the grey sky, and filled with cold air. The spherical emblem carved into the centre of the room was overlaid by a sheer film of water; the gold and silver metal flickered in the dying light. Looking out through an archway in the rock formation, he saw an altar outside on the cliff. He walked out to it and sat upon it.

He had shut himself off from the Light long ago. He tried to recall his training from Luke but the memories were locked away. Yet, the power of the island sheltered him, supported him. Ben closed his eyes and breathed, going back to the first lesson Luke taught him and opened himself up to the Force. 

Images, scents, feelings and tastes swirled through his mind as the cold air and misty sprays from the ocean pushed past him. He saw the ruins of the temple, the green of the grass, the inhabitants that lived and tended the landscape, the powerful flows of the wind - he saw the destruction of this power, the decay that results, and between it all — balance. 

Ben exhaled - not only with relief, but with a sense of peace. Just as Rey’s eyes regained life, and just as he felt her and his mother’s life Force bring air back to his lungs, he was overwhelmed solitude and peace. It truly was a simple feat - he knew the conflict would not completely disappear, but he had solidly aligned himself with the Light and would not sacrifice it for anything. He was committed to maintaining the balance within him and continuing to learn about the ways of the Force. 

The darkness at the heart of the island crept up to him. A shiver went up his spine as he was invited to delve deeper and see what lay below. His brow furrowed and he remembered he had never been taught to resist the Dark side of the Force, and he never really tried to. Temptation boiled for a moment, but then Rey, the embrace of his mother and the memory of his father acted as his anchors. He opened his eyes and heard nothing but silence. The dark feeling of temptation still trickled, like spiders crawling on his skin, but he was alone. The places where rage and hatred and envy once filled were now empty, with only the soft, warm glow of the Light taking up the space. 

His feeble attempts at power and acceptance within the ranks of the First Order were all for naught - he knew that now. His path had truly always been laid out linearly before him, and there was no other possible ending than his turn. It was truly all so simple - choosing the Light had been easy once he realized its meaning. His whole life, the conflict in him tried to resist the Light and embrace the Dark, but the Darkness in him was never strong enough to tip the balance. Whatever forces corrupted him was trivial - he had chosen wrong for many years, and through these choices, never knew if he could turn back. He thought it was too late. He remembered the words of Rey and his father before his death: that it was never too late to turn to the Light. 

Ben remained on the altar for some time, meditating on these thoughts. Nighttime quickly swept over the planet, but somehow, he could still see as clear as day. 

On his venture to back to his ship, he passed through the village. He suddenly felt a pull coming from one structure - a curved stone hut on the edges of the village. Curious and not afraid, he walked up to the door and pushed it open. It was a small, single room, decorated with a hide bed, a few small stone tables and a fire pit. Ornaments and sacred objects hung from place to place, shimmering ever so slightly in the light from neighbouring fires. 

Ben steadily stepped around. He looked to the bed again and saw, clean and folded, a set of Jedi robes. His hand grazed over the linen and he immediately felt Luke’s presence. Understanding that this is where his old master resided in his final years, he turned to the desk and noticed a small wooden chest atop the stone. Sauntering over, Ben apprehensively touched the metal lock and opened it. 

Inside were scrap parchment, scribbled with smudged ink and runes. Atop the papers, the hilt of a saber glimmered, yet it did not resemble the lightsabers of Luke or Leia. It appeared as if it were once silver, but was littered with burn marks and dents. Frowning slightly, he reached out and grabbed the hilt. 

The lightsaber greeted his touch faintly, its power weakened by the damage. Turning it in his palm, Ben grew with incredulousness as he realized the lightsaber was his. 

After Luke’s betrayal and the destruction of his temple, Ben took his lightsaber and escaped to Snoke. He manipulated its kyber crystal, fracturing it in the process of creating the crossguard lightsaber he wielded as Kylo Ren. The weapon he now held in his hand, the original lightsaber given to him as an apprentice, had formed the base of his red, triple-beamed lightsaber, which he had only a few days ago thrown into the oceans of Kef Bir at the Death Star site. 

The fact he held his Jedi weapon in his hand at this moment was nothing short of impossible.

“I had a feeling you’d come.”

The voice of Luke Skywalker rose behind him. Spinning around, Ben took in Luke’s glowing form as a Force Spirit. He stood as plainly as he always had, donning his Jedi robes with his hands folded in front of him. Ben could not find the words to speak.

Luke walked about his previous residence. “If you’re wondering how I got that, I’ll tell you it was not easy. As theatrical as it was, throwing your lightsaber into the depths of the Death Star’s ocean was maybe not the smartest move.” He looked right into Ben’s trembling face. 

“I…I was not planning on ever using it again.”

“Because you went to Exegol to die.”

He could not disagree.

“Listen, Ben. I came to tell you again how sorry I am for failing you.”

Ben stepped forward. “I was the one who failed you.”

Shaking his head, Luke sat on the edge of the bed. “I failed to teach you the truly complicated, intricate, convoluted forms of the Force. I, myself was afraid of the consequences of showing my students the Dark side. I thought if I could teach you, I could pass on my strengths, and in my hubris I foolishly forgot the impacts of my - our - legacy.” 

“There is no one at fault but myself. The Force has given me clarity in that.”

Luke almost grinned. “Among other things.”

Ben knew he was implicating Rey. 

Pointing towards the lightsaber, Luke explained, “I retrieved that for you once I felt the shift in the Force. The remains of the old hilt are still in the ocean - I assume you won’t be needing that.” 

Ben made a gesture. 

“There should never be a Jedi without a lightsaber. The Force surrounds us and binds us all, and Ben, the Force had never left you. It was my mistake to think that by losing hope in you I was seeing the world as it should be - through black and white. I should have known better - it was my father that showed me that nothing is ever that simple. I was consumed by fear that history would repeat itself, and in my fear I lost everything.”

“Why didn’t he come to me? I asked for him. Over and over again.” Ben felt a petulant child asking such a question.

Luke pondered him for a moment and stood. “My father,” he began, pacing the room. “Found clarity in his last moments through the one force even we Jedis still cannot figure out.” 

Ben’s brow furrowed.

“Love,” Luke clarified. “Darth Vader was destroyed through the love of Anakin Skywalker. My master, your namesake, believed that we Jedi are not compelled to attachment or possession, but we are encouraged to love, as through love we can find compassion. My father’s love for me in his last moments is how I truly learned compassion.”

Ben was adamant on getting an answer. “But why did he not show me what I asked him for, showed me how to complete his work?”

Luke smiled. “You did complete his work. My father, before he became Darth Vader, made a deal to turn to the Dark side in exchange for the power to save the one he loved - my mother, Padmé. He failed. You didn’t.”

Ben swallowed hard, thinking of Rey, and did not break his gaze with his uncle. “But he didn’t show me that,” he said in a cracked voice. “He didn’t show me the way to go.”

“What makes you think he did not? You were on a path he could not reach you, but he guided the hand of another. One who would inevitably come your way.” Ben knew he was implicating Rey. There was an inevitable tinge of jealously at the attention Rey received from the Jedi and Ben’s ancestors. But he could not be angry - he only felt foolish. He was blind to the workings occurring in the Force around him, all because he tried so hard to shut himself off from the Light - and the help he so desperately sought was only coming from that direction. 

Luke walked towards Ben, placing a hand on his shoulder. Luke’s aura felt cool and warm at the same time. “You were right about one thing, though. The past is the past and must be left to die, should it ever repeat. A new age is beginning and it might not be what I envisioned, but it’s what you make of it now. You are the last Skywalker.”

Ben took a deep breath and Luke smiled. “But no pressure. What’s important is that you know you are not defined by the blood of my father, or of me and my sister. We have all made errors in judgment but they are not predestined for you. The belonging you seek is not behind, but ahead of you.”

Ben looked down at the lightsaber in his hand, acknowledging it was with its power that caused his father’s death. “I’m a Solo, nothing more. I plan to see this name through.” 

Luke patted him on his shoulder and began to walk towards the door. “So you shall.”

Before he could disappear into the World Between Worlds, Ben stepped forward. “Wait.”

Luke turned.

“Why did you not come when I needed you most?” 

His uncle sighed, and smiled. “As it is with the Force, just because you cannot see us does not mean we are not there. Must we only believe that which we can see?” With that, he drifted through the door and faded into the air. 

Breathless, Ben gazed down to his lightsaber once more. The knowledge of the Jedi spirits having lent their guide to him, after turning himself off to the Light side of the Force, was almost too much to comprehend. Each moment that passed since Exegol he was reaffirmed with the knowledge that all the answers he sought his whole life were within the light - but he could not have discovered so without Rey. Together, they would discover, learn and teach not the Light and not the Dark, but the balance of the Force. They would repair the mistakes of their ancestors and face the fears that paralyzed them, and with their strength together, Ben was not afraid. 

He gripped the lightsaber tighter and, before setting off for his ship, he turned to the robes laid on the bed. 

—

When Rey climbed into Luke’s X-Wing after the celebrations had dwindled, a low beeping emitted from the dashboard, informing of a new message. 

The coordinates of a planet Rey had not been to, but had learned much about from Luke, appeared as a holographic map. She inputted the georeference into the ship’s navigation system, and fired up the convertors. 

Entering into lightspeed, Rey’s mind felt at ease. Tinges of anxiety pressed at the rims but she was filled with a sureness that everything was in its place, all worries were set right. She felt no fear flying to meet Ben, and a surge of elation rushed through her limbs at the thought of being with him again.

Her quarterstaff, or what remained of it, lay on the co-captain’s chair adjacent to her. The dark, strong construct now acted as the framework of a new weapon she crafted herself. With the insight of the Jedi texts and the support of her friends, she was able to manufacture her own lightsaber. Using Leia’s or Luke’s did not feel right to her - they did not belong to her, and now that the war was over, the vocation Luke’s saber once called to Rey had now been completed. With reverence, she used the kyber crystals within her masters’ lightsabers to create her own. The first time she ignited it, it sparked green and blue, and to her surprise, extended to a warm, glowing yellow. 

Maz explained to her that the kyber crystals act as a catalyst and the shades of each lightsaber differs based on the spiritual alignment of the Jedi wielding it. The millennia-year old woman told her the colour of her lightsaber resembles those of the ancient Jedi sentinels, the guardians of the Force. Humbled, Rey had taken this as her new vocation. 

The desert planet came into sight as the X-Wing flew out of lightspeed. As she entered its atmosphere, she was starkly reminded of Jakku. The adventure she embarked upon to return a small droid to the Resistance became the journey that changed her life. Rey had waited her entire life for her family and found it in the Resistance - found it in Ben. 

She saw a small, circular, white edifice come into view. A ship was parked some ways away, and she landed adjacent to it. 

The two moons of Tatooine glowed in the setting sun; before it stood an almost unfamiliar figure. Tall, dark hair, donned in dark linen Jedi robes, he stood facing the horizon. As she walked forward, the figure turned, and in the shadow of Ben Solo’s face she could make out a smile. Unable to stop herself from smiling back, she quickened her pace to a jog. 

Slowing before coming within arm’s reach of him, he reached out and placed his hands on her arms to greet her, and then gently took her hands. He looked down with clear, brown eyes, and a new maturity, and Rey smiled earnestly.

“Took you long enough,” he jested, his voice deep and intimate. 

Before she could retort, he encased her in a passionate kiss. He was so much less careful this time, gripping her waist with fervent, knowing now the risk of their lives was behind them. 

He held his forehead against hers for a moment once they pulled away. 

With difficulty, she broke her gaze away from him to take in her surroundings. The limestone hut stood only a few yards from them, with a large sinkhole beside it. The Force was pulsating strongly from every direction.

“Luke,” she said. “This is where he grew up.” It wasn’t a question, it was something she suddenly knew.

“Yes,” he nodded. “My grandfather as well. This planet is where Luke met my father before they embarked on the Rebellion.”

Rey understood these things were told to Ben as a young child before he became Kylo Ren. The reciting of his family’s history and his own alignment with its significance warmed Rey’s heart, but it also broke for him. He was born anew, without guidance to navigating the Light side. 

She turned to him. “Without their bravery and their strength, their rebellion would have fallen. And without the Empire to defeat, they would have never been brought together.” 

“From great Dark comes a great Light,” said Ben with an essence of his former master upon his words. 

“Balance,” she agreed. Their new, shared understanding of the ways of the Force rang true. There was a balance of light and dark in all beings, in all worlds - the pull to one does not forsake the other. It is the choice and the will that manifests a destiny. To choose hope or power will lead one down either path. Rey understood now Luke’s criticism of the Jedi and his own blindness before Ben Solo’s fall: caving to the Dark side does not mean redemption is impossible. Hope, guidance and belonging will always bring one back to the light. Han, Leia and Luke all knew this to be true; it explained the reasoning and regret of Luke’s exile, and explained their enduring fight to restore Kylo Ren to Ben Solo.

She reached into her belt bag and pulled out Luke and Leia’s lightsabers. They were lighter now without the weight of their power, husks of their former selves. “It seems odd now that these have seen all of those times and somehow they alone remain, after everything.”

Rey knelt down in the sand and, holding the two lightsabers in her arm, pulled out an orange linen cloth. She laid the lightsabers down, parallel to one another. Ben knelt beside her and they shared a gaze, with him nodding in understanding at her intentions. She needn’t speak as their dyad was as strong and pure as ever.

Ben helped Rey fold the cloth to encase the lightsabers. She took a strand of leather from her belt and tied the package together in a bow.

They held out their hands over the lightsabers at once. Summoning the Force together, the remains of Luke and Leia’s legacy was promptly buried by the sand. 

Standing, the two looked at one another. Rey could not comprehend the purity of Ben’s beauty, in heart and soul. He gazed at her with a confidence and contentment she had never seen before, and she could feel their shared happiness flourishing between them like a fire. 

A woman and her bantha were travelling across the sand dunes, and as she passed Rey and Ben at Lars homestead, she stopped in her tracks. “No one has been here for a very long time. Who are you people?”

Ben responded first. “Ben Solo. My ancestors owned this land. ” He spoke with a sureness that warmed Rey’s heart.

The woman turned to Rey. “And you?”

“I’m Rey,” she told the woman.

“Rey who?”

She paused and gazed upon the tanned, wrinkled skin stretching across the woman’s face. Her entire life - from being a shell, waiting on her parent’s return, to being a vessel of hope for the Resistance - she had not given thought to the after, to the end of it all, and the old age that inevitably comes with time. She felt the dyad pulse softly, and she met Ben’s eyes. He marvelled at her, and she was overcome with a calmness in her reverie about the future. 

She looked past the woman’s bantha and, faintly in the dust of the sand dunes, saw a blue aura fade into being. Luke and Leia stood handsomely beside one another, looking unrecognizably young and proud. Beside them, a young man with a mischievous smile, and two older men, one with short white hair and the other with long, straight brown hair. All three had knowing expressions on their faces. Though she could not recognize the figures by name, she knew they were Jedi. The long journey she had embarked upon to take down the remnants of the Empire and her legacy had left her to return to a desert planet with no name, but it dawned on her the words spoken to her by Luke, that some things are stronger than blood.

“Rey,” she spoke, more of a whisper to herself than anyone else. Ben, of course, hearing her, turned his head towards her. With more intent, she looked to the stranger expecting an answer. “Just Rey.” 

The woman nodded. “Be kind to this place.” She tugged on the stirrups of her bantha and travelled into the horizon. 

Ben stepped closer to Rey. “‘Just Rey?’” he questioned. A wistful ghost of a smile was on his face, with the orange shine of the sunset seeming to make him glow. 

She grinned at him. “Who else would I be?” 

With a nod, Rey gestured towards the Force spirits standing some paces away from them. Ben’s face filled with emotion - not overwhelmingly so, yet the stoic expressions Rey had become so accustomed to had disappeared entirely and she never guessed he would be so animated. Pain and happiness danced across his features and it was impossibly alluring and heartwarming all at once. Rey then recognized the lifetime ahead of her she had to grow familiar with the nuances of Ben Solo; though she felt she already knew him through and through, she was bright-eyed and ardent to discover all about her partner. 

Rey tucked the golden dice into Ben’s hand - when he realized what she had done, he gazed at her with content and gratefulness, a small flicker of emotion in his warm eyes. As Rey had seen Han Solo do as Ben’s lightsaber pierced through him, Ben’s hand cupped Rey’s cheek gently, and she softened at his touch.

Looking out onto the horizon, Ben and Rey joined hands as the orange glow turned to red. With the pieces of the universe having fallen into place, Rey realized they had come full circle: a Solo and a nobody meeting on Tatooine and coming together, with the Force being the bond that connected them. This is the legacy of Ben’s family that rang true for the pair, a legacy Rey could identify with. 

Ben looked down at his Rey, giving her the warmest, dimple-ridden smile. Touching his cheek with her free hand, Rey remembered only days ago she did the same to communicate her heart to him for the first time. He bent down and encased her in another kiss, and finally, the enduring peace in the Galaxy coexisted with the everlasting love between its inhabitants. Ben Solo and Rey looked onto the horizon with a content that filled their whole beings and braced themselves for forever.

—

  



End file.
